Flare



y 1949. s. WINTERS 2,468,795

7 FLARE Filed 001;. '11, 1944 2 Sheeis-Sheei i Starling Winters a a" W +122 y 1949' I v s. WINTERS 2,468,795

FLARE Filed Oct. 11, 1944 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3mm Starling] Winters Patented May 3, 1949 UNITED STATES OFFICE 3 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 3'70 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention pertains to flares.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a flare for use as a defense against hostile aircraft.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a flare which will hover in the air while it burns and illuminates hostile aircraft.

A further purpose is to provide a hover flare which has a self-contained motor for keeping it at a predetermined altitude.

Other purposes will become apparent from the following description and drawings.

In defending against bombing raids by hostile aircraft, one method has been to have a great many searchlights on the ground for illuminating the attacking planes for the anti-aircraft guns and also for obscuring the vision of the airplane personnel by the high intensity illumination from the searchlights. An unusually large number of searchlights employed in such defended areas lessens the risk of complete neutralization of antiaircraft defense, whereas in those areas where only a few searchlights are employed, attacking hostile fighter planes may put the searchlights entirely out of action before the bombers begin their runs over the target.

For the defense of areas where it is not possible to employ a saturation of searchlights against attacking aircraft, it is possible to achieve a similar effect by use of the hover type of flare shown and described herein. It is intended that a sufficient number of hover flares may be projected from infantry mortars to a height of 2000 to 5000 feet, for illumination of attacking aircraft without disclosing the location of the mortars.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the projectile comprising a hover flare,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 22 of Fig. 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1,

Figure 4. is a sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 1,

Figure 5 is a top view of the flare with wings extended,

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 6-45 of Fig. 5,

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken along the lines 1-! of Fig. 5,

Figure 8 is a. front elevation of one extended wing,

Figure 9 is a sectional View taken along the lines 99 of Fig. 1,

Figure 10 is a sectional view taken along the lines lfliti of Fig. 1,

Figure 11 is a sectional view taken along the lines lii I, of Fig. 1 and Figure 12 is a fragmentary view taken along the lines I2l2 of Fig. 11.

The anti-aircraft hover flare consists of a high intensity flare arranged to be projected from a mortar at maximum elevation to a predetermined height before starting to burn.

As shown in Figure 1, the flare consists of a hollow cylindrical base portion I3 forming a tail charge holder, surrounded by a plurality of annular shaped propelling charges I 3, and a plurality of ports [5 connecting the interior of the cylindrical base 53 with the propelling charges it. Inside the base portion I3 is a propelling cartridge i6 containing a charge I! adapted to be ignited by a percussion primer l8 having a booster charge I9. Thus the flare is dropped into a mortar with the primer I8 downward and the primer I8 is fired by impact as it hits the firing pin inside the bottom of the mortar. The primer i8 ignites the booster l9 which ignites the charge i'l, resulting in a flash through the flash holes or ports 55 igniting the propelling charges Hi. The number of propelling charges It is determined by the height to which it is desired to shoot the flare. The explosion of the propelling charges causes the flare to be propelled out of the mortar into the atmosphere.

The flare has two wings or vanes 20 and 2| which are arranged to pivot on the fixed pivot pins 22 and 2.1 as shown in the drawing. A cylindrical intermediate body portion 24 has slidably mounted on its exterior a cylindrical vane-extending sleeve 25 having a pair of ears 26 and 69 at its upper end against which a vane-extend ing coiled spring 27 presses so as to urge the slider 25 upwardly. A pair of vane-extending links 28 and 23 are pivotally connected between the ears 2'6 and 69 and the pivots 3i and 32 on the vanes 25 and 29 respectively. Thus it is seen that as the slider 25 moves upwardly, it carries the links 28 and 2;) upwardly and thus causes the vanes 20 and 2! to be rotatably extended from. their position approximately parallel to the axis of the The rapid movement of the flare as.

'tion 31.

"ward thetmatch composition 46.

it is propelled upwardly into the air causes the wind resistance to be so great as to prevent the wings and 2! from unfolding until the flare has reached the top of its flight at which point the flare has ceased to move upward, and there is no wind resistance to prevent the spring 21 from causingtthe vaneszll and 2|: to :unfold and extend outwardly.

At the top of the flare is a cylindrical flare body casing 33 surmounting a flare motor body 34, both having an outside diameter slightly less than the inside diameter of the mortar, so the flare can easily slide into the mortar. :Arflatpartition l7 separates the casing 33 from the body 34. There is a central flare-igniting'flash' tube 35 passing through both the casing 33 and the motor body 34. The upper end of the flash tube 35 leads to a disk-shaped windshieldejecting and flare igniting charge 36. In the hollow lcylindricalcasing 33 is placed a suitable illuminating composi- A rounded [1088:01 windshield 38 is pressed over the top edges of the casing .33, and

hasa disk base Hi.

A flare motor in the motor body 34 causes the flare to rotateabout its-axis by the reaction of burning gases escaping from the motor body throughdivergentnozzles 39 and lllas seen in Figure 11, which are arranged to discharge the burning gasessubstantially tangentially as shown, therebycausing the rotation. The flared divergent shape of-the'nozzles 39 and-40 enables a large part of the heat energy of'the gases to be converted intokinetic energy for rotation. The

gases are fed to the bases 4| and 42 of the nozzles .by means of: the nozzle feed tubes 43 and 44 which .project radially outward in opposite directions from the chamber-45 in the upperportion of which'is placed a'match composition 46 for igniting a flash charge 41'which ignites the flare motor charge 48. A, protective 'moisture-proof paper match seal 15 covers the lower surface of charges 46 and. The charge'48 fills the chamber 49 and the chambersz5ut'andz5l, the ports 52 and 53 serving to connectthechambers containing the charge 48. The charge-48 may be made of any suitable rocket composition, and upon being ignited it gives offzthe gases which are allowed to escape through'the nozzles'39 and 40 as described, thereby causing thefflare to rotate. The nozzle feed tubes 44 and 43 have clean-out plugs :64 s and 65 atfitheir 1 outeriends.

'A firingpin'54 having a. serrated striker point 55 and a coiled striker. spring 56 around its shank, is slidably arranged=for longitudinal movement in the central bore'5'linthe intermediate body portion 24'withits:point:55 pointing upward to- The firing pin 54 has a lower extension '58 carrying a pair of members 59 and 63* on a pivot 6|, the outerends of the members engaging two oppositely disposed "apertures 62 and'63inthesides of body portion *24. Thus, since the'merribers 59'and 6|] are each slightly longer than'the radius of the outside diameter of the body portion "24 at this point, the toggle action prevents-the firing pin 54 from being pushed upward by'therspring '56 until the sleeve *25 has moved upward a sufficient distance to uncover theports '62 and63, permitting the ends of the members'59 and Bllto pass through the said ports.

The flat wing portions of the two vanes 20 and 2| are constructed 'ofsheet metal 'or other suitable-materiaLas shown? in Figure '5 and each vane is :bent upwards from: its reenter t'outward by a .mortar.

6 and 7 show the cross sectional shape of the vanes at the sections indicated. As shown in Figures 9, 10 and 11, the flare motor body 34 has a pair of vertically disposed channels 61 and 68 in which the pivoting portions of the vanes and the vane extending links 28 and 29 move and rotateuasrthe vanes arex moved from their folded position along the sides of ."the flare to their extended position at the top of the vertical flight.

A safety pin 10 having a pull ring H is inserted through a pair of oppositely disposed holes 12 and "13 formed in the intermediate body portion 24 and also through a transverse opening 14 drilled through the shank of the firing pin 54, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Thus the inserted safety pin 78 prevents the firing pin 54 from being released against and igniting the primer 46 even though the vanes 20 and'izl should accidentally be extended before the desired time, since the safety pin 70 is not withdrawn until the flare is ready to be projected into the air.

When the'flare is to be fired, the :vanesare held closely against its sides andthe "flare is i inserted about one quarter of its length intothe mortar, tail first. The safetypin 'lfi'having been pulled 'out,'the.flare is allowed to drop into the mortar tube until itsitail percussion primer IB strikes against an upward pointing firing pin rmounted inside thebaseof the mortar tube, igniting the primer l B. The booster I9 is then ignited and in turn ignites'the charge 'lL'resulting in a flash through theholes I5 igniting the propelling charges l4 and shootingthe flare out of the "As 'the flare reaches the desired height it stops ascending antlthevanes '23 and 2 I extend radially outward. As'they do so, the firing pin 54 is released against the match composition 46 ignitin g itand the flash charge 41.

and serves to'give off intense illumination to the sky and to objects such as hostile airplanes. The helicopter'efiect of the' rotating vanes 20 andZl causes the flare to hover for "quite some time until themotor charge 48 is consumed, when the flare drops slowly to the earth where it can be refilled and reused.

The various charges used in the flare are of the well known compositions familiar to the pyrotechnic art for the several purposes described.

While the foregoing specification sets forth the invention in specific terms, it is to be understood that numerous changes in the shape, size, arrangement and materials may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed herein.

I claim:

1. An aerial device comprising a cylindrical flare body surmounting a cylindrical flare motor body, propeller blades pivoted on said flare motor body and foldable within the extremities of said flare motor body, resilient means constantly urging said bladesto-open position transversely to the longitudinal axis of said device, said means operative to open said blades only at a. substan-- tially zero value of aerodynamic pressure onthe blades, jetpropellent means in said motor body to rotate said device about its longitudinal axis, spring-pressed mcansto initiate the jet propelpositive dihedralranglefnofffive :degrees. Figures lent means, and a, detent for the spring-pressed means connected with the propeller blades, for disarming the spring-pressed means on distension of the propeller blades.

2. The invention of claim 1, said spring-pressed means comprising a firing pin in a tube, perforations in the tube, and a toggle means on the firing pin extending into the perforations, and said detent comprising a sleeve surrounding the tube and normally closing the perforations.

3. An aerial device comprising a cylindrical flare body containing flare material surmounting a cylindrical flare motor bod containing propellent material, jet orifices in said motor body arranged to exert a torque for rotation of said device about its longitudinal axis, radial slots in said motor body, propeller blades pivoted in said slots and having spring-pressed thrust links distending said blades at a predetermined aerodynamic pressure, a tube containing a springpressed firing pin, said tube affixed to and extending rearwardly from said motor body and in axial alignment with a flash tube extending through said motor body and said flare body, a primer in said motor body communicating with said propellent and said flare materials and aligned with said firing pin, aligned perforations in said tube remote from said motor body, a toggle on the firing pin extending into said perforations, a sleeve concentrically mounted on said tube and normally covering said perforations, said sleeve attached to said thrust links whereby the perforations are uncovered on distension of the blades to neutralize the holding action of the toggle.

STARLING WINTERS.

10 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 37,940 Plant Mar. 17, 1863 1,003,082 Ziegenfuss Sept. 12, 1911 1,102,653 Goddard July 7, 1914 1,380,172 Abbot May 31, 1921 1,554,065 Blair Sept. 15, 1925 1,964,016 Wiley June 26, 1934 2,329,414 Nelson Sept. 14, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 303,819 Germany Sept. 17, 1919 

